Jackson Hole has always been on Alex’s ski destinations bucket list, so for his birthday we hopped on a direct flight and landed straight in a national park. Jackson Hole is so named because the town of Jackson is surrounded by mountain ranges, including the Grand Tetons. Comically, even though we were in town for…
Over Superbowl Sunday and Valentine’s Day week, we opted for an entire week working remotely from Truckee, near Tahoe. I found us a remote little cabin, completely with wood-burning stove and chickens outside! Towards the end of the week our friend Vince even stopped by for a short stay. Feeding the fire and the chickens…
Tahoe between Christmas and New Year’s– I would definitely advise against it! And yet, that’s what worked for Alex and I to be able to take a little trip with my mom, so away we went, into the traffic and lines and crowds. It was lovely once we got past the hour-long standstill traffic to…
A couple weeks after we were married, we went on an impromptu mini honeymoon in Napa! I had booked a photo session in Yountville, so Alex seized the opportunity to turn it into a little staycation while we were up there. What a special privilege to be able to hang out in wine country over…
At the end of November, Alex and I spent two wonderful weeks driving down south, staying in Monterey, Los Alamos, and then Alhambra for a week. First, a little stop in Santa Cruz. There was a cute little street market in downtown Monterey, near our historic hotel where we checked in for two nights. The…
What a whirlwind it’s been since the end of last year. I’m circling back now to recap the last two months of 2022. We start it off with a 100-day celebration for Baby Valente! In November, we had such a beautiful engagement session, and we pulled together all the details for our December ceremony too. …
Each year, I collect small gifts along my travels and compile them into a holiday gift set for my wedding clients. It’s my way of sharing a small part of my year with my couples when they’ve shared such an important part of theirs with me. And this year, we had the added distinction of…
Stealth trip! Alex and I hopped on a plane to NYC in early December and posted nothing about it publicly (at least not right away), because I was on a secret mission to surprise Whitney on the Brooklyn Bridge for her proposal! The surprise was a success, and we got to stay a few extra…
Each year, I collect small items along my travels for a curated gift box that I send to each of my full wedding clients over the holidays. It’s my way of sharing a bit of my year with my couples, when they shared such an important part of their year with me. Of course 2020…
Our neighborhood walking tours began in December 2020, borne out of pandemic restlessness and a desire to trick myself out of hibernation and into exploring my surroundings (safely) again. I researched free walking tours or assembled various articles and book chapters to make up my own background reading on various places around the San Francisco…
I am often quite happy to hibernate and never go outside– especially in the winter, but I’ll admit, generally too. This serves me well during a shelter-in-place pandemic. Alex, however, dissolves away inside. He says he is fine with staying in, but he is a natural extrovert, an outdoor person, and all of this has…
December was a full month, filled with holiday decor, videochats, bouncing between San Francisco, Cupertino, and Oakland, and neighborhood walking tours, which I decided would be their own post. Recap below. Our Office of Accountability Friendsgiving went virtual this year. Here’s Do-Hee presenting my secret santa gift for Eileen — seeds, and this stack of…